SparkFun Forums

[sebraun]

I just purchased an SM5100B shield for use on my Mega 1280. I cannot get past the part about "Starting SM5100B Communication". I suspect it is the baud rate. I have read all the forums about changing pins 2 and 3 and connecting them to the Mega Serial1. Seems like a great idea however the schematic for the SM5100B doesn't look like the unit on my desk. There seems to be no pins 2 and 3 and there are definitely no JP4 and JP6. Does someone have some updated information about this shield. I do have an Rx and Tx line that would appear to go the Mega shield on pin 0 and 1. Are these the ones to use? I tried connecting these to the Mega pins 18 and 19 bit I still got nothing.

[coyote20000]

Does the board look like this the picture here? -->http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9427

Give us a link to the docs you are using to set it up..

Looks like you connect the serial to the txd0/rxd0 or txd1/rxd1 lines. I haven't looked at any pdf's so I don't know which would work. I would say txd0/rxd0 would be where you need to connect to. Those lines goto he FTDI chip. The jumpers would most likely be the solder bridges on the board (Probably the rx and tx areas). You most likely need to remove those bridges to be able to talk to microcontroller.

[Davyx]

I also purchased the cellular shield: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9607

I also plan to use it on the Arduino Mega.

There are no jumpers on the board but it seems that they have been replaced by 2 soldered bridges. I haven't started yet to use the shield. My plan is to combine it to an alarm; when an input will be activated the shield will send a SMS to few programmed numbers. I also would like to be able to modified the programmed numbers by SMS, I don't know if it's possible.

[Davyx]

I'm trying the example sketch fro the library. Where to set the text message center number?

If I'm calling the SIM card I can see "RING" display on the serial monitor. But if I send a SMS, nothing happens.

How can I also send a SMS with the Arduino?

[Davyx]

Me again!

I'm trying to run the example sketch to send SMS but I can't make it to work.

I can read this:
+SIND: 1
+SIND: 10,”SM”,1,”FD”,1,”LD”,1,”MC”,1,”RC”,1,”ME”,1
+SIND: 11
+SIND: 3
+SIND: 4

After that, I write the AT commands but I don't know why, I can't send any SMS. I don't understand what is wrong.

[coyote20000]

Can you post your sketch, or are you using a terminal app and typing the commands?

I can take a look, but I don't own one of the boards.

[Davyx]

I've now used to sketch from the Cellular_Shield_Passthrough example:

Code: Select all

#include <NewSoftSerial.h>  //Include the NewSoftSerial library to send serial commands to the cellular module.
#include <string.h>         //Used for string manipulations

char incoming_char=0;      //Will hold the incoming character from the Serial Port.

NewSoftSerial cell(2,3);  //Create a 'fake' serial port. Pin 2 is the Rx pin, pin 3 is the Tx pin.

void setup()
{
  //Initialize serial ports for communication.
  Serial.begin(9600);
  cell.begin(9600);
  
  //Let's get started!
  Serial.println("Starting SM5100B Communication...");
}

void loop() {
  //If a character comes in from the cellular module...
  if(cell.available() >0)
  {
    incoming_char=cell.read();    //Get the character from the cellular serial port.
    Serial.print(incoming_char);  //Print the incoming character to the terminal.
  }
  //If a character is coming from the terminal to the Arduino...
  if(Serial.available() >0)
  {
    incoming_char=Serial.read();  //Get the character coming from the terminal
    cell.print(incoming_char);    //Send the character to the cellular module.
  }
}

I've used the serial monitor from Arduino but also Terminal v1.9b from Bray++.

If I type ATD123456789 (phone number) then SEND, the shield doesn't try to call the number.

If I type AT+CMGF=1 then press SEND
AT+CMGS="123456789" 'text to be sent' and press SEND, nothing happens.

[coyote20000]

If I type AT+CMGF=1 then press SEND
AT+CMGS="123456789" 'text to be sent' and press SEND, nothing happens.

According to the one document, you have to send a <ctrl-z>

etc.
AT+CMGF=1
AT+CMGS="123456789"
<text>
<ctrl-z>

[Davyx]

I tried this too.

I tried to type ctrl-z then SEND, to press ctrl+Z, nothing happened, to type <ctrl-z> or <ctrl+z> and nothing.

It would be nice that somebody using or who has used this shield could tell me what is wrong in what I'm doing. I read the manual of the SM5100B but it didn't help

[coyote20000]

You have to send an ascii code (26) (ctrl-z)
I've heard some terminal apps can send and even view control characters.
Sorry, I don't know of any..

[tronixstuff]

Hello
If anyone is interested, I have written the first of a trilogy of articles about the SM5100B GSM module shield
and how to use it with our Arduino boards. There are examples you can use and so on. Please have a look at http://wp.me/pQmjR-1bM.

[Davyx]

This is so cool, I'm waiting for the other parts. For now I haven't been able to make this fucking shield to work and Sparkfun support is quite bad, or even non-existing

[tronixstuff]

This is so cool, I'm waiting for the other parts. For now I haven't been able to make this fvcking shield to work and Sparkfun support is quite bad, or even non-existing

That is why I am writing the articles, many people emailed me and kept nagging me about the shield. I am sure you will be fine once you follow the instructions on my site.
have fun
john

[Davyx]

Thanks to John my Cellular shield is now working very well.

The problem came from the Terminal software I was using which didn't send any AT commands. And like I couldn't set the network band (AT+SBAND), the shield couldn't work at all, manually or with a sketch.

I was using Terminal from Bray, version 1.9, the same version than John but with a different layout. When I downloaded this one, all worked:

https://sites.google.com/site/terminalb ... 100630.zip

Thanks again John and also to Coyote20000 who tried to help me.

[GTech13]

Mine simply repeats SIND 1 and SIND 10 about every 10 seconds with about 5 characters of jibberish in between (usually decimals but varies in other terminal programs). Does anyone know what could cause this? If I'm lucky I may get a SIND 3 after 10 minutes and once got a SIND 4 and SIND 7. I'm using the development board connected directly to a computer and have change BR to 9600 and band to 7.

Help would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks